Meet the Artist: Chanel Miller in Conversation with Esmé Weijun Wang

Meet artist and writer Chanel Miller, author of the award-winning “Know My Name: A Memoir,” who speaks with novelist, essayist, and mental health advocate Esmé Weijun Wang about resilience, transformation, and activism through the arts. Miller’s first commissioned museum artwork, I was, I am, I will be, is currently on view in the new Wilbur Gallery. The mural represents healing as a three-part process — reflecting on the past, being mindful in the present, and envisioning the future — and encourages us to think of life as an endless state of becoming. 

Followed by a Q&A. Moderated by Abby Chen, head of contemporary art. Reservations are required. This event is free with a general admission ticket. A teamLab: Continuity ticket is only necessary if you’d like to view Chanel Miller’s I was, I am, I will be in Wilbur Gallery.

Satisfy your appetite for culture on Thursday Nights at the Asian Art Museum: our special exhibitions, collection galleries, cafe, and boutique stay open until 8 p.m. and admission is just $10 after 5 p.m. 

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS 

Chanel Miller‘s critically acclaimed memoir, “Know My Name,” was a New York Times bestseller, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a National Book Critics Circle Award winner, as well as a best book of 2019 in Time, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, NPR, and People, among others. Miller received her BA in literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Esmé Weijun Wang is author of the New York Times–bestselling essay collection “The Collected Schizophrenias” (2019) and the novel “The Border of Paradise,” a NPR Best Book of 2016. She was named by Granta as one of the Best of Young American Novelists in 2017 and won the Whiting Award in 2018. She is the founder of The Unexpected Shape Community for ambitious writers living with illness and disability.

Purchase Chanel Miller's book

Photographs by Mariah Tiffany (left) and Jacquelyn Tierney (right).